John Locke

John Locke (29 August 1632-28 October 1704) was an Enlightenment thinker from England and the "father of liberalism". Locke developed political philosophy, agreeing with Thomas Hobbes that there was a contract between the king and his citizens, although he argued that humans were born with a blank state (tabula rasa).

Biography
John Locke was born in Wrington, Somerset, England on 29 August 1632, and he attended Westminster School, where he developed an interest in the teachings of Rene Descartes. In 1652, he was admitted to Christ Church in Oxford, and he studied medicine. After successfully treating Anthony Ashley Cooper for a liver disease, he was taken into Cooper's household in 1667, becoming both a physician and a writer. His patron, as a member of the Whig Party, influenced Locke's views during the 1670s, and Locke became a political philosopher and Enlightenment thinker. Locke argued that people are born with a tabula rasa (blank slate), meaning that nurture formed humans' personalities, not nature. He also argued that knowledge was determined only by experience, saying that he would be the first person to throw his writings into the fire if they proved to be untrue. Locke's views on the right to life, liberty, and property would influence the United States' founding fathers during the American Revolutionary War, and his views were some of the main principles of classical liberalism and republicanism.